As a general rule I find vodka to not be flavorful enough to hold up in most recipes.

i think the reason you use vodka in cooking is not for the flavor of the vodka itself. Actually you use it for its lack of flavor plus its alcohol content. The alcohol is used to bring out alcohol soluble flavors that you cannot taste without it. Since the vodka has no (or very little) flavor itself, you get the actual flavor of the alcohol soluble flavors you are after. Tomatoes are a prime example of something that has a flavor that you will only taste in the presence of alcohol.

Clair your bloody mary salad sounds great. I can't wait to try it. I have a bottle of Kettle One in the freezer right now. I will be making this tomorrow!

Make some Vodka and lemonade, its a great drink.
When adding it to your cooking, remove the pot from the heat source, then add the vodka in, place pot back on heat source. Keep the bottle away from the heat source.
Tomatos and Vodka go great, the classic creamy tomato sauce with Vodka is very good. You could also put that sauce over shrimp. You could put it in a cake, coffee flavored cake with vodka as an essence.

GB, love that penne &amp; vodka sauce. Make it often &amp; comes out great. The rule of thumb, as I understand it, is alcohol evaporates while cooking. It is about the flavor &amp; not the alcohol. When cooking with alcohol/wine, use a flavor/taste you like, or would drink. If you don't like the taste, you won't enjoy the recipe.

As for leftover Vodka, well, think I have a recipe somewhere for Jello-Shots (jello cubes - pick your flavor w Vodka). If anyone is interested, send up a flare &amp; I'll try to locate my recipe.

Yeah Mich, I love that sauce. I find it even gets better the second day.

Actually alcohol usually does not evaporate when cooking with it. A surprising amount of alcohol usually remains. It all depends on the amount of time it is cooked and even the cooking method. Here is a chart which will show what I am talking about.

when i have too many cherry tomatoes, i peel them and soak them in vodka and fresh thyme overnight, then i serve them as an adult appetizer on a toothpick with worcestershire sauce and grated horseradish as a dip.

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The rule of thumb, as I understand it, is alcohol evaporates while cooking. It is about the flavor &amp; not the alcohol.

Actually, alcohol never cooks out all the way, no matter what. Usually, 20-80% of the alcohol remains, depending on your cooking time and technique. Even after flaming 75% of the alcohol usually remains.

Also, like GB says, many times alcohol is used not for the flavor, but for it's ability to release alcohol-soluable flavor components in food. Vodka sauce is a good example of this. Vodka is used for its lack of flavor in a preparation where it brings out the flavor of the tomatoes